1st submission...should have waited until it wasn't WIP...

[cannon_fodder]

O well, live and learn, and then get advise...

...so here I am am...
I realize the photography hurts this mini (and, well, any mini really), but this is the best I can do at the moment. Basically, I was trying a new style and love the browns, but the eagle head is throwing me for a loop. It was my first conversion ever, so the sculpt will remain as is, but if anyone has a suggestion on how to paint it, that would be helpful...
and that's why I'm (and likely 'we) are here...to help each other out...

SO fire away...be critical, but be constructive, negativity frustrates me...

View attachment 26108

 

[Bailey03]

I like what you're doing with the armor. The transitions are still a bit too stark. Have you every played around with wet blending? I'm not an expert in that approach but I think it would be a good way to get the same armor look but with smoother transitions.

I'd clean up the browns on the eagle head. They give the head a dirty look. I'd start with just white and if you want some shading try mixing in only a hint of brown to the white and then applying the paint.

Those red lenses look awesome by the way. Really nice job on them!

 

[Stewsayer]

I agree with Bailey, the armour is heading in a good direction. Your highlights are placed well and create interest. lf you can work on smoothing the transitions it will really start coming together. Also taking the highlights further toward white will really start to make it pop. But just in small areas where light would be brightest and on upper edges.

White (&black) are tough to get working well. As Bailey says keep it subtle. Try to keep most of the area white / off white with the shadows being subtley darker (by adding a tiny bit of brown). If 60% or more of it area is "white" then the brain will interpret it as white. l would also suggest avoiding the use of pure white in large areas. Save it for specular points, edges and small areas in your topmost highlights.

 

[Trevor]

Actually, I think the problem with the armour is not that the transitions are too stark, it is that the edge highlighting is too thick. The front panel where the wing is looks much better, because the edge highlights are thinner. It would look better if you added a lighter edge highlight, but only on the corners for about 3mm from where the 3 or 4 plates meet in the corner.
It is the eagle head where more smooth blending would improve it and actually as mentioned, it is more that too much of it is stark white, adding some more off white colour in there would help.

 

[christophe_fontaine]

Yep, generally speaking, the brown metal is quite good, except on the shinpad where the most light area is too thick I guess, and the transitions lacking a bit of subtlety. You managed to do it on the top parts of the dreadnought, I don't see why you couldn"t do it on the lower pads. Maybe because of the curvature?
Anyway, as someone else said, maybe the edge highlights are a bit too thick as well, and I second the comments about the eagle head. The red lenses are nice

To say it in a nutshell, keep up the good work, your painting is already nice and you seem to be willing and able to make improvements.

 

[ten ball]

Like you say its a WIP so there's work to be done. A tip is to really take your time on the extreme edge highlights. Keep them tidy and sharp, the eyes are drawn to the edges.

 

[cannon_fodder]

I've hit it with a few glazes of the battlefield brown and basecoated over the head with 'jack bone. It also felt as if the head was 'floating' a bit forward, so I've extended the jack bone coloring back through the 'three prongs' on the top, which also helped the issue. (pics coming soon, I'm at work at the moment). Thank you for all the suggestions. Keep them coming....

@Bailey03: Painting Battletech figures on a regular basis really helps with 'jewelling'

@Christophe_ : the shin pad is the other area of pain for me. I tried the transition from the top of the dread in that area in a couple of ways, but it never looked right. This was a compromise, but it's definitely not the best. I may try to tighten it up a bit more. If you can't tell, the other shin pad is the 'pilots' old breatplate armor that has been severely damaged. You can see the belt buckle sticking out from under the lascannon. In hindsight, I should have put the armor on the exposed leg and it would have helped this issue...But you bring up a good point...

For the grognars. how do you transfer this effect to curved areas (such as the beak)?